Rusty M

Summer 2004, I moved to Lake Powell, and for the first time I strapped a wakeboard to my feet. Wakeboarding is alot like snowboarding in the sense of all the top guys are midgets and under 160 lbs. Me being bit of a bigger guy found it harder to learn the spins and tricks, but eventually just found my groove and would ride the way I wanted to. Each summer living at the lake we would wakeboard more and more. We would ride before work, after work, and occasionally at lunch. We had our stash that we would ride, and almost became militant when it came to others riding in our spot. (Side-note, the current me would kick the trash out of that territorial me.)

I was immersed in the culture. I had videos, magazine subscriptions, would go to boat shows to meet the riders. If a wakeboard crew came to the lake, I knew and would be the one to deal with them. One rider kept standing out to me. Rusty Malinoski. The dude looked like a pitbull to me, and I loved his style. He wasn’t the typical wakeboarder to me. Wakeboarding seems a bit out of reach to me, still does. It’s a rich mans sport. You have to own a boat, gas, maintenance, all of that goes along with it is just expensive. Yet, I’m still a fan. Rusty was someone I felt I could relate to, probably not in real life, but in my head I can, so I like him.